Friday, May 29, 2015

I spent a hot weekend in downtown Sacramento. In between a wedding reception, ceremony, and catching up with many relatives in my huge family, I got to visit some really cool cafes. I only wish I had more time to write instead of just sipping coffee and taking photos.

Naked Lounge

A laid-back cafe in a quiet residential part of downtown. I only ordered a Vanilla latte, though in retrospect, I wish I had sampled one of their signature drinks, like the famous "Bowl of Soul."

1500 Q St, Sacramento, CA

Old Soul at the Weatherstone

Another gem tucked away in a quiet residential area outside downtown. This cafe had a wonderfully spacious seating area, and a damn good iced vanilla latte.

812 21st St, Sacramento, CA 95811

Temple Coffee

A popular cafe with brewing award-winning specialty coffee. I enjoyed a Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk, on their outdoor patio. Bonus points for being open until 11:00 pm.

1010 9th St Sacramento CA 95814

The Mill

A relaxed and sunny cafe just a short walk from the center of town. Original offering of Almond Macadamia Latte.

I am always fascinated by how global fast food chains adapt
to local markets around the world. I have been chronically this through
companies like McDonalds, KFC, and
Starbucks, which originated in America. And others like Al-Baik from SuaidArabia, and now Freshness Burger from Japan.

When I finished my contract in Japan and left the country, I
had no idea that I would ever be able to eat a Freshness Burther outside of
Japan. Even less did I expect to find one in a back alley of Yangon, Myanmar.
So you can imagine my look of disbelief when I saw that Freshness Burger sign
atop something called “Culture Valley,” a mall-meets-arboretum. The mall itself
is pretty sorry. A few foreign fast food joints, some local shops selling
longyis and beauty products. They don’t seem to know if they are targeting locals or foreigners, tourists or residents. Capitalism is relatively new here.
There’s a learning curve and we are witnessing it.

Upon entering the restaurant the staff greet you with
“Irashemase!” – “Welcome” in Japanese. As typical of the over-staffing problem
I see in Myanmar, we were the only customers in Freshness Burger but were
greeted by no less than eight staff. 2 behind the counter. 2 in the kitchen, 2
talking in the bathroom, and two talking in a booth. Too many workers and not
enough to do. Even if the restaurant was full I doubt eight people would find
enough work to do.

The menu itself bore some symptons of assimilation. Among
the items I’ve never seen in Japan were a grilled frank and carrot smoothie. I
was also surprised to find cheaper prices in Myanmar. A classic cheeseburger
with a drink and fries was only 6,300 kyats ($6.30). In Japan this would be at
least 1,000 yen ($10). There was also free wifi, another rarity in Japan.

As for the food, the cheeseburger tasted enough like
Freshness Burger in Japan, only I am certain they did not use real cheddar
cheese. The cheese was white and tasted like the same blandcheese I have eaten
all over the country. Since I can’t identity it, I call in “Myanmar cheese.”
The ketchup was also spicier than Japan’s.

One reason for the lack of foot traffic might be their
inauspicious location. They are in the back of the ball, with no front
enterance, and facing a dump. Oddly, inside the Freshness Burger a “Fancy store
from Korea” will be opening soon.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

I arrived from Bagan by bus just after sunset, when I were
trust into Yangon’s dark, dirty streets. Smog and exhaust from cars came
billowing in thick, odious clouds through my open window. I frowned and tried
not to breathe. Returning to the familiar streets of Yangon feels like a
homecoming. I missed this city’s dirty streets and even seeing them in the
chaos of darkness I only grewgrown to love them more.

Myanmar doesn’t try to hide its true face. It doesn’t
section off the foreigner and try to shield them from the unpleasant. All
around us are sights of the real everyday lives of real people. They crowd into
the back of pick up trucks, pull up their longyis to piss in the streets, they
chant into their cellphones and yell at each other from their car windows. And
I have no doubt in my mind that all these scenes would be taking place ever if
my eyes were not to view them. They know we need a little cushion, we need a
little more comfort than the local is accustomed to, but they know were are
here, and we have to accept life here as it is, in its raw dirty form. Maybe
that is why I like Yangon so much. It’s honest. It is an adolescent city,
afraid to grow up, but unable to go back in time. It wants the freedom of an
adult but the lightheartedness of a child, and it has neither. It is in the process of discovering
itself. Young, old, and putting the awe
in awkward. Yangon is a city best loved for its flaws, its moods, its
grievances. Gritty and glamorous. Charming and chaotic. Nothing gets hidden in
the light of day.

I didn’t hear the woman on the megaphone last night. I
missed her sorrowful voice. I know now that the song she has been singing night
after night is a Buddhist chant or prayer, and that same melody rang out in the
streets of Mandalay and on the dirt roads of Bagan. It seems that no village is
without a megaphone. It seems no night spent anywhere in Yangon is without the
cries of a distance chanting. No night here can pass in silence. And certainly
no morning. But last night the streets of Yangon were unusually quiet. I longed
to hear the woman’s voice one last time. But it will live in my memory, and on
my iphone and in many stories I tell about this great and wonderful city. It
has already changed in the week that we have been gone. What will happen after
one year? Or a decade? Nothing stays still here. When I return, if I ever will,
I am sure I will find it completely changed. Only in my memory will it stay
this way, like a picture bound by a frame, unmoving and unchanging for all
eternity. Though the picture may be immortal,
it only captured one second in a lifetime. A moment so fleeting, yet so
immortal.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

I dreaded returning to Yangon. Not because I don't love that
city, au contraire, it’s only of my favorite cities on earth. But I expected
the journey to Yangon to be as bad as the journey out of Yangon, in which we
subjected ourselves to 15 hours of torture on a train. Because of my flight anxiety, I avoid planes
at all cost and I assumed a 9-hour bus ride would be just as bad, especially
after enduring an anxiety-educing 12-hour one in Malaysia.

But returning to Yangon was inevitable, so eventually I had
to toughen up and buy a buy ticket, which I decided was the lesser of three
evils. Since I was convinced that I could not sleep on an overnight bus ride,
our hotel booked us a day ride on E-Lite and we paid 15,500 kyats per ticket. I
had never heard of the company and was skeptical, but prepared for the worst.

At 8:00 am a pick-up truck got me from my hotel lobby, then
proceeded to meander through town, picking up other tourists along the way. The
bus pulled up and to my relief, looked brand new and clean. I boarded and
departed at 9:00 am, exactly on time.

The bus ride far exceeded my expectations to the point that
it was memorable. First of all, we had a bus attendant who was very
professional and provided us with snacks, waters, blankets, and announced
upcoming rest stops. The seats were so wide and comfortable, and the journey so
smooth that we slept almost the entire time. The AC was at a comfortable
temperature, unlike the freezing trains and buses I had ridden before. There
was no bathroom on board, which had been a source of concern for me, but we
stopped every 2.5 hours for a bathroom break and this was fine. The bathrooms
at the rest stops on the side of the road were decent. No toilet paper, but
that is typical of Myanmar. We even had lunch at noon at one of the Feel
restaurants. We arrived at Yangon bus terminal precisely on time at 6:00 pm. The
only negative is that the bus terminal in Yangon is far from the city, further
even than the airport, so it took over an hour in traffic to reach our hotel.

Overall, I am so
grateful for not taking the train from Bagan to Yangon, and would highly
recommend E-Lite buses.